Russ Beene on the Jeremiah Wright/Obama discussion
Russ Beene of the Collinsville High School class of 1997 with Matthew Morgan, Beth Templeton and Ashleigh Adrian has weighed in strongly on the Wright discussion at Baptistlife.com
It is some meritorious thinking Russ is doing here, and as the son of a former choir member in the church where my Mother was baptized, he should give the Council of Shadows something to think about.
Maybe Russ should asked to give the dedication address for the New Library in Collinsville as word on the street is about 250,000 dollars has come their way through Jerri Delk from Senator Lindsey, a good friend of my Dad over in Forney.
Russ was there that day I was trying to get Matthew Morgan into to Yale Divinity School; but I guess it is our kind of people you don't want frequenting Libraries across the street from where one's Mother was baptized cause maybe we think too much.
In any case Russ is thinking and I am proud of him. His thoughts conflate nicely with the conundrums discussed last night on PBS Newshour.
Beene:
It is some meritorious thinking Russ is doing here, and as the son of a former choir member in the church where my Mother was baptized, he should give the Council of Shadows something to think about.
Maybe Russ should asked to give the dedication address for the New Library in Collinsville as word on the street is about 250,000 dollars has come their way through Jerri Delk from Senator Lindsey, a good friend of my Dad over in Forney.
Russ was there that day I was trying to get Matthew Morgan into to Yale Divinity School; but I guess it is our kind of people you don't want frequenting Libraries across the street from where one's Mother was baptized cause maybe we think too much.
In any case Russ is thinking and I am proud of him. His thoughts conflate nicely with the conundrums discussed last night on PBS Newshour.
Beene:
Re: Moyers interview with Jeremiah Wright
by russ on Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:43 am
I guess mine is kind of a dissenting view from all the comments that have come so far on this topic. Surprise, surprise.
One, I don't think Wright will ultimately hurt Obama. Part of the evidence for this is how enamored of the Wright story the corporatized media are. This is age-old guilt-by-association, gotcha politics that requires no investigation, insight, or discussion from newspeople. Show a clip of a nut on a rant, and then shrug your shoulders and go live via satellite to three or four talking heads to yell at each other. Three or four segments of that, with some ads for dish soap...you got yourself a newscast. And then you've got another hour to fill tomorrow night.
This is an old story. Sensationalism. Politics as freak show. But the more exposure and discussion it gets, the more the truth will come out. And I think the truth helps Obama: this is a stupid, OLD fight - or stalemate - that needs to die and be forgotten. So, we either move on to the next generation of politicians, or we keep doing the same stuff - living in Wright's world. Nobody sees any similarity between Wright and Obama - or, at least, if they do, they haven't pointed that similarity out in any place I've seen. The truth that's coming out slowly is that Wright is the idealogical opposite of Obama, and the more you want to get beyond Wright, the more you need Obama.
But white folks like me who aren't terribly familiar with the history and culture of predominantly black congregations should take this as a learning opportunity.
I think there are two reasons Wright discusses this as an attack not on him but on the black church. One, he has a huge ego. But two is that a lot of the commentary has been about Wright's speaking style: how loud he is, how his body moves, how much cheering goes on in a sermon. I heard Republican strategist Ed Rollins on CNN the other day talking about Obama and Wright and saying something to the effect that Obama was once perceived as a safe black man, not a scary one, but now that we've seen video from the church where he attends, he seems like another scary black man.
And nobody, not Lou Dobbs, nor any of the other panelists (a couple of whom I think were black) challenged that comment, the intimation, at least, that the black church is scary.
So of course, with that kind of thing going on routinely on television, Wright isn't going to be the only one upset.
And I'm not sure where believers get off challenging someone on belief without proof, like Wright's assertions about the government spread of AIDS (which is obvious nonsense, but...). Isn't part of a pastor's job to spread stories that have no proof and very little evidence as "the truth?" Yeah, this particular story is especially offensive, but why are we expecting anything else out of a preacher? All I've ever heard in church is the retelling of myth and oral tradition as fact and truth. If that's the way a church is run in the first place, then let's have a little perspective when the the myth being perpetuated doesn't come from scripture but from paranoia. I mean, this is a church; just because something isn't factual or historically accurate doesn't mean it isn't "true," right?
And I think Wright has just done a better job of seperating himself from Obama than Obama could ever have done. When Wright's asked about Obama's remarks about Wright, Wright calls Obama a politician who says what he has to to get elected. Now, how many people who have seen both Wright and Obama speak are gonna come away thinking Obama is the one who has trouble dealing head-on with the truth? Please.
What Wright provides is a great opportunity for loudmouths (like me) to pontificate, for or against him, or for or against the other loudmouths. What Obama provides is a great opportunity to quiet down and get serious, and nod and smile at elderly whackos who's best days have slipped away behind them as we start figuring out how to, like, strengthen the economy to deal in a global village, rebuild a broken military, move beyond a dependence on fossil fuels, educate the citizenry, maneuver out of Iraq in a responsible way, see if we could maybe - I don't know - FIND Osama Bin laden and see what a court would have to say about him, gain back some friends around the world, ...........
One, I don't think Wright will ultimately hurt Obama. Part of the evidence for this is how enamored of the Wright story the corporatized media are. This is age-old guilt-by-association, gotcha politics that requires no investigation, insight, or discussion from newspeople. Show a clip of a nut on a rant, and then shrug your shoulders and go live via satellite to three or four talking heads to yell at each other. Three or four segments of that, with some ads for dish soap...you got yourself a newscast. And then you've got another hour to fill tomorrow night.
This is an old story. Sensationalism. Politics as freak show. But the more exposure and discussion it gets, the more the truth will come out. And I think the truth helps Obama: this is a stupid, OLD fight - or stalemate - that needs to die and be forgotten. So, we either move on to the next generation of politicians, or we keep doing the same stuff - living in Wright's world. Nobody sees any similarity between Wright and Obama - or, at least, if they do, they haven't pointed that similarity out in any place I've seen. The truth that's coming out slowly is that Wright is the idealogical opposite of Obama, and the more you want to get beyond Wright, the more you need Obama.
But white folks like me who aren't terribly familiar with the history and culture of predominantly black congregations should take this as a learning opportunity.
I think there are two reasons Wright discusses this as an attack not on him but on the black church. One, he has a huge ego. But two is that a lot of the commentary has been about Wright's speaking style: how loud he is, how his body moves, how much cheering goes on in a sermon. I heard Republican strategist Ed Rollins on CNN the other day talking about Obama and Wright and saying something to the effect that Obama was once perceived as a safe black man, not a scary one, but now that we've seen video from the church where he attends, he seems like another scary black man.
And nobody, not Lou Dobbs, nor any of the other panelists (a couple of whom I think were black) challenged that comment, the intimation, at least, that the black church is scary.
So of course, with that kind of thing going on routinely on television, Wright isn't going to be the only one upset.
And I'm not sure where believers get off challenging someone on belief without proof, like Wright's assertions about the government spread of AIDS (which is obvious nonsense, but...). Isn't part of a pastor's job to spread stories that have no proof and very little evidence as "the truth?" Yeah, this particular story is especially offensive, but why are we expecting anything else out of a preacher? All I've ever heard in church is the retelling of myth and oral tradition as fact and truth. If that's the way a church is run in the first place, then let's have a little perspective when the the myth being perpetuated doesn't come from scripture but from paranoia. I mean, this is a church; just because something isn't factual or historically accurate doesn't mean it isn't "true," right?
And I think Wright has just done a better job of seperating himself from Obama than Obama could ever have done. When Wright's asked about Obama's remarks about Wright, Wright calls Obama a politician who says what he has to to get elected. Now, how many people who have seen both Wright and Obama speak are gonna come away thinking Obama is the one who has trouble dealing head-on with the truth? Please.
What Wright provides is a great opportunity for loudmouths (like me) to pontificate, for or against him, or for or against the other loudmouths. What Obama provides is a great opportunity to quiet down and get serious, and nod and smile at elderly whackos who's best days have slipped away behind them as we start figuring out how to, like, strengthen the economy to deal in a global village, rebuild a broken military, move beyond a dependence on fossil fuels, educate the citizenry, maneuver out of Iraq in a responsible way, see if we could maybe - I don't know - FIND Osama Bin laden and see what a court would have to say about him, gain back some friends around the world, ...........
End of Beene.
As our friend Ron Rash said in A World Made Straight, the kind of world collinsville would be if I had membership once again in Colllinsville Baptist Church where my Mother was baptized and the Collinsville Library cause my Grandfather Jordan among other students taught Bud Oliver (and the same could be said of Oliver as about to be said of Beene): Smarts like that just don't grow up daisies in a bunch of hogweed.
PBS discussion for some of you who want grounding, some nobility to your processing of this moment as opposed to the rant and demagoguery of Hannity and Colmes, Anne Coulter and the other anti-Christs among us
posted by foxofbama | 8:15 AM
1 Comments:
Anonymous said...
You keep an eye on that day and half now, Yippee; you may be in for a surprise
Yeah right-
ORFO RULES!!!!!!!!!!
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